A missile from Yemen halts flights in Israel hours before top officials vote on plans for Gaza war

BEN-GURION INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, Israel (AP) — A missile launched by Iranian-backed rebels in Yemen on Sunday briefly halted flights and commuter traffic at Israel's main international airport after an impact left a plume of smoke and caused panic among passengers.

The Houthi rebels have been striking Israel throughout the war in Gaza in solidarity with Palestinians. The attack on Ben-Gurion International Airport came hours before top Israeli Cabinet ministers were set to vote on whether to intensify the country’s military operations in the Gaza Strip. The army meanwhile began calling up thousands of reserves in anticipation of a wider operation in Gaza, officials said.

The missile launch Sunday set off air raid sirens in multiple parts of Israel. A plume of smoke was visible at the airport, according to footage shared by Israeli media. Passengers were heard yelling and scrambling for cover.

It was not immediately clear whether the projectile, which landed in a field near an access road leading to airport parking lots, was the missile or its fragments, or an interceptor from Israel's air defense systems. It left a deep crater in the ground and a nearby road was littered with dirt.

Police said that air, road and rail traffic were halted following the attack. The traffic resumed after about an hour, Israel Airports Authority said. Israel’s paramedic service Magen David Adom said four people were lightly wounded.

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Hunger and malnutrition are rising across Gaza as Israel's blockade leaves mothers with few options

KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — The little boy is in tears and, understandably, irritable. Diarrhea has plagued him for half of his brief life. He is dehydrated and so weak. Attached to his tiny left hand is a yellow tube that carries liquid food to his frail little system.

At 9 months old, Khaled is barely 11 pounds (5 kilos) — half of what a healthy baby his age should be. And in Gaza's main pediatric hospital ward, as doctors try to save her son, Wedad Abdelaal can only watch.

After back-to-back emergency visits, the doctors decided to admit Khaled last weekend. For nearly a week, he was tube-fed and then given supplements and bottled milk, which is distributed every three hours or more. His mother, nervous and helpless, says that's not enough.

“I wish they would give it to us every hour. He waits for it impatiently ... but they too are short on supplies,” Abdelaal says. “ This border closure is destroying us.”

The longer they stay in the hospital, the better Khaled will get. But Abdelaal is agonizing over her other children, back in their tent, with empty pots and nothing to eat as Israel’s blockade of Gaza enters its third month, the longest since the war started.

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Protesters want Morocco to sever ties with Israel, so they're targeting strategic ports

TANGIER, Morocco (AP) — More than a year of protests over Morocco’s decision to normalize ties with Israel has emboldened activists and widened a gap between the decisions of the government and the sentiments of the governed. The fury has spilled into the country’s strategic ports.

Amid shipping cranes and stacked containers, 34-year-old agricultural engineer Ismail Lghazaoui marched recently through a sea of Palestinian flags and joined protesters carrying signs that read “Reject the ship,” in reference to a vessel transporting fighter jet components from Houston, Texas.

Activists are urging Moroccan port officials to try to block ships carrying military cargo to Israel, much like Spain did last year. Protests often target Danish shipping company Maersk, which helps transport components used to make Lockheed Martin’s F-35 as part of the U.S. Defense Department's Security Cooperative Participant Program that facilitates weapons sales to allies including Israel.

A similar boycott campaign landed Lghazaoui in prison last year, but that didn't deter him from turning out again for resurgent protests last month, after his release. Lghazaoui is one of more than a dozen activists pursued by Moroccan authorities for criticizing the government’s ties with Israel.

During a rally in November in Casablanca where Lghazaoui spoke, plainclothes officers beat him and others to prevent them from advancing toward the U.S. Consulate, he said. He later posted about Maersk on social media and was arrested and charged with incitement. He spent four months in prison, from November to February.

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Romanians vote in a presidential redo after voided election sparked deep political crisis

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Romanians are casting ballots Sunday in a critical presidential election redo after last year’s annulled vote plunged the European Union and NATO member country into its worst political crisis in decades.

Eleven candidates are vying for the presidency and a May 18 runoff is expected. Polls opened at 7 a.m. (0400 GMT) and will close at 9 p.m. (1800 GMT). By noon, 3.5 million people — about 19.5% of eligible voters — had cast ballots, according to the Central Election Bureau, with a massive 500,000 coming from voters abroad.

Romania’s political landscape was shaken last year when a top court voided the previous election in which the far-right outsider Calin Georgescu topped the first round, following allegations of electoral violations and Russian interference, which Moscow has denied.

Like many countries in the EU, anti-establishment sentiment is running high in Romania, fueled by high inflation and cost of living, a large budget deficit and a sluggish economy. Observers say the malaise has bolstered support for nationalist and far-right figures like Georgescu, who is under investigation and barred from the rerun.

While data from local surveys should be taken with caution, a median of polls suggests that hard-right nationalist George Simion will enter the runoff, likely pitting him against Bucharest Mayor Nicusor Dan, or the governing coalition’s candidate, Crin Antonescu.

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Pope Francis left unfinished business after a 12-year papacy. What challenges await the next pope?

VATICAN CITY (AP) — While Pope Franci s accomplished a lot in his 12-year papacy, he left much unfinished business and many challenges for his successor — from the Vatican's disastrous finances to the wars raging on multiple continents and discontent among traditionalists about his crackdown on the old Latin Mass.

When the conclave's cardinals finish casting their ballots under Michelangelo's frescoed ceilings of the Sistine Chapel, the 267th pope will have to decide whether to continue Francis’ policies, tweak them, or abandon them altogether. Will he prioritize migrants, the environment and the social justice policies that Francis championed, or give precedence to other issues?

Among the challenges facing the new pope:

Francis did more to promote women to leadership positions in the Vatican than any pope before him, and his successor will have to decide whether to continue that legacy, accelerate it or back down and change course.

The issue isn't minor. Catholic women do much of the church’s work in schools and hospitals and are usually responsible for passing the faith to the next generation. But they have long complained of second-class status in an institution that reserves the priesthood for men.

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A roofless palace in Italy's Viterbo hosted the first and longest conclave

VITERBO, Italy (AP) — It was the mounting rage of citizens in Viterbo, a small town north of Rome, that put an end to the longest papal election in the history of the Catholic Church, forging for the first time the word “conclave.”

The Viterbo conclave in the 13th century was a pivotal event in papal elections, lasting almost three years – exactly 1,006 days – due to deep divisions among the cardinals over the name of the new pope.

Viterbo is also considered the birthplace of modern conclaves, where cardinals are confined to a single place until they elect a new pontiff, and often need to negotiate before reaching a compromise on the final name.

In November 1268, the cardinals — summoned in Viterbo to elect the successor of the late Pope Clement IV — were split mainly between two factions and couldn’t reach a consensus before September 1271.

As the cardinals continued to deliberate in Viterbo, frustration rose among locals due to the lack of progress, as political and internal struggles had cast a shadow over the election.

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Trump draws criticism with AI image of himself as the pope ahead of the papal conclave

NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump posted an artificial intelligence-generated image of himself dressed as pope as the mourning of Pope Francis continues and just days before the conclave to elect his successor is set to begin. Trump's action drew rebukes from a group representing Catholic bishops in New York and among Italians.

The image, shared Friday night on Trump's Truth Social site and later reposted by the White House on its official X account, raised eyebrows on social media and at the Vatican, which is still in the period of nine days of official mourning following Francis' death on April 21. Catholic cardinals have been celebrating daily Masses in his memory and are due to open the conclave to elect his successor on Wednesday.

The death of a pope and election of another is a matter of utmost solemnity for Catholics, for whom the pope is Christ’s vicar on Earth. That is all the more true in Italy, where the papacy is held in high esteem even by nonreligious Italians.

The image featuring Trump in a white cassock and pointed miter, or bishop’s hat, was the topic of several questions during the Vatican’s daily conclave briefing Saturday. Italian and Spanish news reports lamented its poor taste and said it was offensive, given that the period of official mourning is still underway.

Left-leaning former Premier Matteo Renzi said the image was shameful. “This is an image that offends believers, insults institutions and shows that the leader of the right-wing world enjoys clowning around,” Renzi wrote on X. “Meanwhile, the U.S. economy risks recession and the dollar loses value. The sovereignists are doing damage, everywhere.”

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UK police arrest several Iranian men over alleged attack plot

LONDON (AP) — British counterterrorism officers arrested several Iranian men over an alleged plot to attack an unspecified target in London, the Metropolitan Police force said Sunday.

Police said five men aged between 29 and 46 were detained on Saturday in various parts of England on suspicion of preparing “a terrorist act.”

Four are Iranian citizens and the nationality of the fifth is still being established.

All the suspects are being questioned at police stations and have not been charged. Police said they are searching several properties in London, Manchester in northwest England and Swindon in western England.

Police said the attack plot targeted a single location that was not being named “for operational reasons.”

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Australia's re-elected prime minister says voters chose unity over division

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Australia’s re-elected Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Sunday was greeted by well-wishers at a Sydney café and said the country had voted for unity over division.

Albanese’s center-left Labor Party won an emphatic victory in elections on Saturday. As vote counting continued, the government was on track to win at least 85 seats in the 150-seat House of Representatives, the lower chamber where parties need a majority to form an administration.

Labor held 78 seats in the previous Parliament, and gaining seats in a second term is rare in Australian politics.

“The Australian people voted for unity rather than division,” Albanese told reporters in the crowded café in inner-suburban Leichhardt where he and his fiancee, Jodie Haydon, gathered with colleagues and supporters for coffee.

“We'll be a disciplined, orderly government in our second term, just like we have been in our first,” he added.

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Warren Buffett shocks shareholders by announcing his intention to retire at the end of the year

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Billionaire Warren Buffett shocked an arena full of shareholders Saturday by announcing that he will retire at the end of the year, bringing the curtain down on a six-decade run leading Berkshire Hathaway that made him the most influential investor in the world.

Buffett said he will recommend to Berkshire Hathaway’s board on Sunday that Vice Chairman Greg Abel should replace him.

“I think the time has arrived where Greg should become the chief executive officer of the company at year end,” Buffett said.

Abel has been Buffett's designated successor for years, and he already manages all of Berkshire's noninsurance businesses. But it was always assumed that he would not take over until after Buffett's death. Previously the 94-year-old Buffett always said he had no plans to retire.

Buffett announced the news at the end of a five-hour question and answer period without taking any questions about it. He said the only board members who knew this was coming were his two children, Howard and Susie Buffett. Abel, who was sitting next to Buffett on stage, had no warning.

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